From Texas, I mostly cover the energy industry and the tycoons who control it. I joined Forbes in 1999 and moved from New York to Houston in 2004. The subjects of my Forbes cover stories have included T. Boone Pickens, Harold Hamm, Aubrey McClendon, Michael Dell, Ross Perot, Exxon, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and more. Follow me on twitter @chrishelman.

The news has caused shares of Chesapeake, the nation’s no. 2 producer of natural gas, to jump 11% in after-hours trading. With McClendon out, a significant obstacle to the takeover of Chesapeake will have been removed.

In a statement this afternoon Chesapeake stated that the decision to replace McClendon was made by both McClendon and the board of directors and that the company is now in the process of selecting a new leader.

The company said that it has been undertaking an investigation of McClendon’s personal financial matters, especially as it pertains to his involvement in Chesapeake’s Founder Well Participation Program — a sweetheart deal that allows McClendon to personally invest alongside the company on every well that it drills.

Somewhat surprisingly, the company said today that “the board’s extensive review to date has not revealed improper conduct by Mr. McClendon,” adding that the decision to replace McClendon was not related to the review of his activities.

McClendon, in an email to employees this afternoon, said, “Although this is due to certain philosophical differences that exist between the Board and me, the separation will be amicable and smooth.”

Chairman Archie Dunham, in a staff email this afternoon assured employees that the culture McClendon had put into place at Chesapeake would endure.

“The Board has no intention of eliminating childcare, shutting down the Fitness Center, or selling the Company cafeterias.”

More importantly, he stated that “the company is not for sale” and that Chesapeake would carry out its planned $6 billion in drilling this year.

Dunham may say that the company is not for sale, but getting McClendon out removes a big obstacle in a way of a hostile takeover. Chesapeake has the deepest collection of shale gas acreage in the country, and although many of those fields are not currently economic to drill at current gas prices, Chesapeake’s reserves wouldrepresent decades of development opportunities for a deep-pocketed energy company.

According to Ernst & Young the fourth quarter of 2012 saw the most oil and gas M&A transactions of any quarter in the past decade. That’s likely to continue into 2013. According to Bernstein Research, Chesapeake would make an excellent acquisition target, especially for Asian state-controlled oil companies. According to Bernstein analyst Neil Beveridge: “It is inevitable that there will continue to be consolidation of small cap E&Ps which have shale acreage or deepwater oil and gas discoveries but insufficient capital to develop these assets. Low risk (discovered buy undeveloped) are exactly the assets Asian NOCs want given their access to low cost financing.”

Chesapeake’s enterprise value (equity plus debt) is on the order of $35 billion. After a takeover premium, the acquisition price of the company would be north of $40 billion. The company has proven reserves of 3.1 billion boe (barrels of oil or the natural gas equivalent). Chesapeake carries a big debt load of more than $13 billion, and hasn’t generated free cash flow from operations for a decade. At its current rate of drilling it has enough acreage to keep its rigs busy for more than 20 years.

Last year revelations emerged that McClendon had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from private equity groups and other investors to finance his share of drilling costs under the drilling program. Some of those lenders also had financial interests with Chesapeake, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

Furthermore, it was revealed last year that McClendon had been operating a private hedge fund, which was situated inside Chesapeake’s offices but not part of Chesapeake. The hedge fund made significant bets on natural gas futures. Considering Chesapeake’s position as the second-biggest gas producer in America, this arrangement also raised conflict-of-interest concerns.

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